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"Let's be cheerful"! We have no more right to steal the brightness out of the day for our own family than we have to steal the purse of a stranger. Let us be as careful that our homes are furnished with pleasant & happy thoughts as we are that the rugs are the right color and texture & the furniture comfortable and beautiful"! Laura Ingalls Wilder

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

welcome to the jungle



It's no secret that I've been a bit off this season.  Not to mention that so has the weather... Thus, this years tomato's are having to fight it out with the foliage.  I literally filled one of my 2 raised beds with them this year and missed my opportunity to prune the suckers (that's not slang folks, I'm talking about the shoots that grow from the main stem)!




I'm trying to figure out why I bother with them every year seeing as, left to themselves I've never had a healthier harvest.  Well, they haven't been harvested yet.  As you can see they are still green, but they are going gangbusters!  I can just sense the energy they are exuding trying to be red.  When I walk by I can hear a gentle murmur... "I think I can, I think I can..."

The plants are covered with beautiful fruit, and buds.  If we could just hope for an extended summer I think we could eat tomatoes well into the next harvest.  So, I'm hoping to catch a gentle murmur on the summer's breeze, "I think I can, I think I can."














I am so eager for these green devils to be ripe.  I've been thinking about recipes like the ones below all summer...

ElizabethD's Roasted heirloom tomatoes
Jane's Oven roasted spaghetti sauce
Gumbo Lily's Tomato Salad with Croutons
Patti's Interesting recipe

O.K., Patti's recipe has nothing to do with tomatoes.  Just wanted to see of you were paying attention and have a bit of fun!  Patti actually gives me wonderful recipes and ideas.  But I have informed her that this is one I am NOT trying...

Blessings, Debbie
Posted by no spring chicken at 12:01 AM
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32 comments:

  1. LynnAugust 23, 2011 at 1:25 AM

    The tomatoes look wonderful! Our tomato planting season is just about to begin. Maybe I'll just plant and forget and wait for nature to do her best.

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  2. Silver ThimbleAugust 23, 2011 at 2:21 AM

    I hope your tomatoes ripen for you Debbie. Our weather has been so poor here over the past couple of years that my DH is contemplating doing away with our vegetable patch. I will miss it but we have so little to show for all the hard work so I hope it all works out for you. Take care Marie x

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  3. LynnAugust 23, 2011 at 3:49 AM

    Hope they ripen soon for you, they look great:@)

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  4. EmilyAugust 23, 2011 at 4:30 AM

    Look at all of those green beauties! We've got quite a few that are deciding on when they're going to turn. I keep eyeballing them! I've had a pretty much "plant and forget" with ours, but the weeds aren't there this year. I check the tomatoes, rub the basil (mm yum), glance at the carrots.

    I so want to make Elizabeth's tomatoes! I just need a lot of tomatoes.

    And no thanks on the chicken feet, or the killing of. Eeck.

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  5. W-S WanderingsAugust 23, 2011 at 4:41 AM

    Ours are just starting to ripen, which the chickens just love. Grumble. Grumble. Next year, the garden will be fenced in. For now, the chickens have been seeing more time in their pen.

    And if I strain, I too can catch the I Think I Can chant of your tomatoes. You WILL NOT have to search out recipes for green tomatoes.

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  6. DebbieAugust 23, 2011 at 4:45 AM

    Now, I have to go see Patti's interesting recipe.

    The tomatoes look yummy all ready. Why, you could snatch a few right now and have fried green tomatoes!

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  7. Tracey ~ CloverAugust 23, 2011 at 5:19 AM

    Debbie, all your tomatoes look so wonderful and you know, you can always have fried green tomatoes if they don't turn! It really is a wonderful dish served with garlic, cheese grits...yum! xx

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  8. Sherri B.August 23, 2011 at 5:45 AM

    My tomatoes have way more foliage than usual and have thought about cutting it back...actually there is so much that they all look more like a hedge than plants.

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  9. karenAugust 23, 2011 at 6:19 AM

    Some of our tomato plants have lots of leaves and little flowers. But then some have lots of flowers and their leaves look thinned out. I hope you get a ripe one soon!!

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  10. KarenAugust 23, 2011 at 6:20 AM

    Our tomatoes have just started ripening and they are so yummy-well worth all the waiting.

    Another recipe you could try:

    http://bluebarnbulletin.blogspot.com/2009/09/tomato-corn-pie.html

    I linked you to my adaptation but the original Smitten Kitchen version is linked in my post, too. It's soupy no matter how I prepare my tomatoes but we all LOVE it.

    Hope you have red tomatoes very soon!

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  11. JaneAugust 23, 2011 at 6:33 AM

    I'm keeping my hopes up for your tomatoes, Debbie! I stopped staking and fussing with my tomato plants a few years ago. I think they like being a bit wild, because I sure get some bumper crops!

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  12. AnonymousAugust 23, 2011 at 6:34 AM

    You are richly blessed in tomatoes! (And patti is very brave to work with those chicken feet!)
    My neighbor prunes his tomatoes. I heard about 50/50 opinions online about pruning them. So I would just take the easier way and not! Yours is proof of that maybe! love,andrea

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  13. Farm GirlAugust 23, 2011 at 6:35 AM

    My garden has been the same way, One picking of green beans, replanted twice. The corn didn't even get to my knees, replanted twice. My sunflowers just didn't grow, I have planted them at least three times. I have only picked tomatoes a couple of times. It has never been like this before.
    I am ready to move on though and just pull it all out.
    I guess there are years like that. I do hope you are feeling better now.

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  14. AnnAugust 23, 2011 at 6:58 AM

    Ours as well as had the same problem this summer. A friend with an enormous garden has been able to give us a few--only because she had over 200 plants. Glad to see the green ones.
    Ann

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  15. Leslie August 23, 2011 at 7:42 AM

    Oh yum! What a wonderful sort of jungle to have.

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  16. Reginas CottageAugust 23, 2011 at 8:02 AM

    dear debbie,
    what a great tomatoe jungle you have. i lost the half of my tomatoes through the bad weather , that we have had in juni and july.
    have a nice week,
    love regina

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  17. JuliaAugust 23, 2011 at 8:45 AM

    You may have a jungle but at least your tomatoes are looking very healthy. Mine got the blight this year. They are ripening fast because most of the foliage has dried up and fell off from the blight. JB

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  18. Barbara F.August 23, 2011 at 10:01 AM

    I almost clicked on Patti's interesting recipe, but no, I want to comment first! I think you will be enjoying tomatoes well into September. Have you ever made fried green tomatoes? Now I am off to check out Patti's interesting recipe! xo,

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  19. CherylAugust 23, 2011 at 10:18 AM

    I forgot the suckers too. Personally I think they were hiding among the nasturtiums. Oh well. I'll get what I get. Always pleased to find different tomato recipes.

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  20. TannaAugust 23, 2011 at 1:42 PM

    Okay, Debbie... You are probably going to grab the trash can, but we actually had chicken feet dumplings when I was a teenager. They were pretty good. No lie. I did see them on a dim sum cart in China Town, San Francisco. I didn't have them though. Those tomatoes are amazing! You are going to be busy when they ripen. blessings ~ tanna

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  21. UnknownAugust 23, 2011 at 1:53 PM

    Now you have me waiting for summer again. It's freezing here this morning and to read about tomatoes actually makes me think of summer on the way. Maa

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  22. JacquiAugust 23, 2011 at 1:57 PM

    Your tomatoes look as if they are beginning to turn, so don't worry too much. I did click on Patti's link and it is just the question I have been asking myself lately - so thank you. xxx

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  23. AnonymousAugust 23, 2011 at 2:17 PM

    You'll be a busy girl when those beauties ripen! You'll need vitamins and a strong cup of coffee! haha

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  24. jeanAugust 23, 2011 at 4:00 PM

    My dogs can have the chicken feet. But, I love tomatoes. Looks like you'll have a bumper harvest.

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  25. VeeAugust 23, 2011 at 5:26 PM

    Oh my. I had to look and you knew that we would, right? She's a brave gal.

    Hope that the season lasts long enough for you to have an amazing harvest; otherwise, you might have to eat a lot of fried green tomatoes.

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  26. MaryannAugust 23, 2011 at 5:52 PM

    Our tomatoes have been disappointing this year. I think it's been just too hot. They are being to bud again and I am hoping that maybe we will get a few before the frost comes. Yours are beauties

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  27. Pom PomAugust 23, 2011 at 6:01 PM

    Wowie zowie! You are going to have baskets and baskets of tomatoes! Ours are very pretty and I really wish I liked them whole. I can do tomato in salsa or one slice in a sandwich, but that's it. I've tried loving them, but I just can't. Sigh.

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  28. Marqueta (Mar-kee-ta) G.August 23, 2011 at 6:38 PM

    Dear Debbie,

    MMMMM, home grown tomatoes! Mine finally gave us a few ripe ones, except for the ones out back that have nothing but nothing on them!

    Let's pray for an extended summer, indeed.

    Love,

    Marqueta

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  29. Cheryl August 23, 2011 at 8:20 PM

    A home grown tomato is one of life's simple pleasures! I think that I will try the oven roasted spaghetti sauce (as soon as I can stand the oven on for that long). The "interesting recipe"? I'll pass. ~shudder~

    I hope you're soon able to put these recipes to the test for yourself.

    P.S. Your story in yesterday's post cracked me up! Unfortunately, I have been doing things like this all my life. Can't even blame hormones...bummer. I have told Kati that she is never allowed to leave me as she is my brain. She just smiles sweetly and says that she'll train Bekah. Anyway, perhaps the good news is that you will come out of your brain fog eventually. I, on the other hand, am stuck with my feeble brain.

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  30. AnonymousAugust 23, 2011 at 8:24 PM

    Hey, Deb - they look great! Messy, but, as you say, thriving! Our little deck planter tomatoes are just about done and all the green is turning brown. Ah . . . well. Out comes the fall decor this weekend!
    Joy!
    Kathy

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  31. julesAugust 25, 2011 at 5:11 AM

    I have the exact same thing in my raised garden!

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  32. AnonymousAugust 26, 2011 at 8:40 AM

    Lucky girl! I make fried green tomatoes with polenta crust and fried pancetta. It is so good. Clarice

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